The average penalty for a serious OSHA violation in Louisiana is $1,765.

Federal OSHA has until the end of April 2015 to issue any citations and penalties related to the incident that stole Tito Hernandez’s life. It’s likely they’ll determine that Hernandez’s death was preventable. It was no “accident.”

I use to work there. Matter of fact Tito only worked there because I begged him to start the job with me because I didn’t want to work there without a friend. It sucks that I had to bury my best friend on Nov.1st. He was a great person. I know for sure that could’ve been prevented. When I worked there the supervisor always knew every employees location before the machine every came on.

Fernando,
I hope that OSHA has been in touch with your family over the course of their investigation. If not, let me know.

It is not unusual in fatality cases for OSHA to finish its work on the exact date of the six month anniversary (their statute of limitations.) I plan to do a follow-up blog post when I learn the result of OSHA’s investigation.